FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS - PAGE 2

In sports like swimming, which the public pays attention to only during the Olympics, an Olympic-related disappointment can linger the next four years. So it is that Naperville's Mary DeScenza still talks of getting "less mental" about her best event, the 200-meter butterfly, two years after failing to make the U.S. Olympic team. "After the 2004 [Olympic] trials, it was so hard for me to get back into it," DeScenza said Tuesday. "I've had a lot of self-doubt about that race."

How long does it take to get from Florida to Japan and Spain? For Mary DeScenza of Naperville, the answer is 2 minutes 9.89 seconds. That was DeScenza's winning time in the 200-meter butterfly at the U.S. Swimming Championships on Wednesday night in Ft. Lauderdale. Along with the national title came a place on the U.S. team that will compete Aug. 24-29 at the Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan, and an almost certain spot on the U.S. team that will compete at the world championships next July in Barcelona, Spain.

The Oakland Invaders will release wide receiver Anthony Carter from his contract in the next few days as part of a plan to fold the United States Football League franchise, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Minnesota Vikings acquired Carter's National Football League rights Thursday in a trade with the Miami Dolphins. "I would think Anthony will be in Minnesota for the start of the season," said Bob Woolf, Carter's agent. Carter has one year remaining on a four-year, $2 million contract he signed with the Michigan Panthers, who merged with the Invaders last year.

All Jenny Thompson could think about after breaking the world record in the 100-meter freestyle in Sunday morning's U.S. Olympic Team Selection prelims was coming back for the finals and not making the Olympic team. Before a small crowd of swimming diehards, Thompson, of Dover, N.H., broke the 6-year-old world record of five-time Olympic gold medalist Kristin Otto of East Germany in :54.48, bettering Otto's world mark of :54.73. The 19-year-old Stanford freshman became the first U.S. woman in 61 years to set a world record in the 100 meters since Helene Madison went 1:06.

The Oakland Invaders will release wide receiver Anthony Carter from his contract in the next few days as part of a plan to fold the United States Football League franchise, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Minnesota Vikings acquired Carter's National Football League rights Thursday in a trade with the Miami Dolphins and expect to have him signed shortly. "I would think Anthony will be in Minnesota for the start of the season," said Bob Woolf, Carter's agent. Carter has one year remaining on a four-year, $2 million contract he signed with the Michigan Panthers, who merged with the Invaders last year.

There's something about Mary. Two things, actually. There is total agreement on both about Mary DeScenza, the Naperville swimmer who will compete in her first world championships next month and is a strong contender for the U.S. Olympic team next year. One is that she isn't always playing with a full deck, which her club coach, her college coach, her mother and even DeScenza herself readily admit. The other is what her rivals have to admit. On a pool deck, where she may goof around until seconds before a race, DeScenza becomes the real deal once the gun sounds.

The United States, with three world record-holders in the lineup, dominated opening-day competition of the Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships Thursday by winning seven of eight events. The four-day meet at the Olympic Memorial Pool, which brought together about 165 swimmers from 16 countries, is a warmup for the Universiade Collegiate Olympics opening in the western Japanese city of Kobe Aug. 24. Carrie Steinseifer kicked off the U.S. medal-winning rush by winning the women's 200-meter freestyle in 2:01.

Michael Phelps notched another impressive performance in his comeback when he won the 100 meters backstroke and beat American rival Ryan Lochte for the second successive night in Athens, Georgia , on Saturday. Phelps clocked 53.88 seconds, less than a second outside his personal best, while Lochte was a distant runnerup in 54.40. On Friday, Phelps won the 100m butterfly in 51.67 seconds, the third fastest time in the world this year. The winner of a record 18 Olympic gold medals, Phelps announced a comeback in April after retiring following the 2012 London Olympics.

Fast feats 1: U.S. sprint star Marion Jones had her ups and downs at last week's track world championships in Spain. First, she sailed to victory in the 100 meters. Then she finished third in the long jump - a bummer for her, because she wants all gold all the time! Then, worst of all, she pulled up injured in the semifinals of the 200 meters, an event she was favored to win. Mean-while, her hubby, C.J. Hunter, won the shot put. (The European press nicknamed 150-pound Jones and 330-pound Hunter "The Beauty and the Beast."

The comeback of Michael Phelps continued in impressive fashion on Friday as the most decorated Olympian of all time beat rival Ryan Lochte in the 100 meters butterfly and notched up the second fastest time of the year in Athens, Georgia . Phelps posted a 51.67, his first swim under 52 seconds this year, in just his fourth meet after a 20-month retirement. He easily beat his times in the event from his previous three meets but still has work to do to match his 51.21 winning time from the 2012 London Games.